What do you think about biofuels?

Question

Soybean oil, castor oil etc? Can natural, vegetable based oils meet our energy needs?

Answer 1

I think so.  Fossil fuels are not unlimited and will eventually need to phased out.  The sooner we switch to alternatives like biofuels, the better off we will be.

Answer 2

It is ridiculous to start using grains when there are oil fields to explore, and new tech. can drill safely.I believe that funding should be made available to credible inventors to create new ways to produce energy to run our machines, and I don't mean wind power.

Answer 3

No they cannot.  But they can be a piece in the puzzle.  

Answer 4

I was behind a biofuel V Dub yesterday.  It was spewing more black smoke than any diesel car I have ever seen.

Answer 5

A sort term fix to a long term problem.  The long term fix is electric power, hydrogen power for cars.

Answer 6

Big mistake, all these products were being used elsewhere, some in food products.  It'll raise the costs of those products if they're diverted to use as fuel.

Answer 7

Ask any mechanic and they will tell you no

Vegatable oils (even non-hydrogenated oils) become solids at higher temps than conventional fuels. They will plug up fuel lines and injectors at low temps (the Port of Seattle gave up using these bio-fuels a couple of years ago after spending thousands to fix plugged injectors and pumps)

Also they lack the lubricating properties that Diesel has, they wear out pumps and injector nozzels much faster.....

I do however applaud the attemp, we need to keep looking for alternatives, maybe Bio-fuel that is refined to get the right properties?

Answer 8

Soybean no - only 200 gallons to the acre and there are not enough acres to feed the nation and fuel our cars,

Castor I honestly do not know.

Wheat Grass can manage about 750 to 800 gallons per acre (4x Soybean) and it should be promoted on any land not currently used for food crops - we could eliminate 5% of our imports with it in a short period of time.  

One university is suggesting a blue green algae can produce upwards of 5,000 gallons of bio diesel per acre!  Now we are talking major success, but that acre requires water which is a limited resource itself...but we can use sewage water which we got "lots" of....

Answer 9

I think they are one part of alternatives to fossil fuels.  The diesel engine was designed to run on peanut oil, and to recycle cooking oil and use it for autos is great.  I think there are far better alternative bio-fuels than corn ethanol.  From what I understand hemp would be one of the most energy producing plants, but some people have issue with industrial grade hemp because it is related to the marijuana plant . . . I just have to say "Oh please!"

Answer 10

These are still the United States of America!! Anybody who says we can't accomplish any technological feat we set out to accomplish hasn't been paying attention.

In this case, the means necessary to do what you propose will have to be decentralized, so those who seek to monopolize will have a hard time doing so.  I think we could absolutely make most of the fuel for our transportation needs from vegetable sources in a fairly short time frame, but it would take an initial investment in infrastructure.

Where are we going to grow all of these new oil crops?  Rooftop hydroponics is one suggestion.  There are already grocery stores toying with the idea of rooftop gardens simply to lower prices by removing transportation from the equation.  If rooftop hydroponics and/or photovoltaic arrays were mandatory from California to Florida (offset by tax credits) we would have widespread access to locally-generated solar power, and access to locally grown oil crops.  The industry that would be involved in this endeavor would provide full employment in a growing economy, provide fabulous investment potential, and create a new American economy that would not be subject to the vagaries of Middle East politics.

Methods are being developed to use oil crops not just for ethanol, but for  biodiesel as well, and then use the remnants as feed for livestock.  

I say we can do it, and should have started on Sept 12, 2001.